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8.30am That's it from us this morning. Have a wonderful Tuesday. I'm off for a few days now, yippee, so I'll see you next week.
8.14am STRANGE BUT TRUE: A woman who shares the same name as a character in Peppa Pig is suing the creators.
8.12am CELEB NEWS: Hugh Jackman has reportedly made a stunning return to Broadway with a mesmerizing performance in award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth's new drama The River. Get the full review.
8.10am We love to text, tweet, post, email but we don't talk on the phone anymore. Is the art of making a call dying? Read on.
8.08am A little cat funny for you. I love cat jokes.
8.06am WORLD NEWS: The Syrian government has agreed "in principle" to the UN envoy's call for local ceasefires to try to ease the worst fighting in the country's civil war but needs more details before it can make a final decision, a Syrian official says. (SMH)
8.04am LOCAL NEWS: The Albion Park Rail bypass should have been built before the Princes Highway upgrade at Gerringong, an NRMA director claims.
*Reporter Glen Humphries has the story.
8.02am It's Postnatal Depression Awareness Week.
8am CELEB NEWS: Liv Tyler has posted this pic of her baby bump. N'aww.
7.58am Good morning! Welcome if you're just tuning in. We're in for a partly cloudy day with a top of 23 degrees. There is a medium chance of showers tonight. All good on the roads & rail.
7.56am SYDNEY: The management of popular Sydney nightspot ivy have been called in for a meeting with senior police after four men were hospitalised with suspected drug overdoses while patrons at the venue.
7.54am NSW: The Greens have unveiled a proposal for legalising medical marijuana that would have the government growing its own supply and treating children with incurable epilepsy. Read more.
7.52am MOVIE NEWS: Can you believe Home Alone turns 24 today?!
7.50am HEALTH: Almost half all surgery patients are given an excessive amount of antibiotics to prevent post-operative infection, according to a new survey that underscores concerns about Australia's over-use of the drugs.
7.48am Want to win a $200 voucher to spend at Stockland Shellharbour? Um yes please! Enter here.
7.46am Have you booked your tickets to Little Shop of Horrors yet? It's on at the IPAC in January.
7.44am Another animal funny for you this morning.
7.42am MUSIC NEWS: Hits by Cold Chisel, The Divinyls, Icehouse and the Go-Betweens are now officially Sounds of Australia - they've been inducted into the National Film & Sound archive. As they should be, yay for Icehouse!
7.40am Don't forget to pop into the Steel City Sound exhibition at the Wollongong Art Gallery in the coming weeks. It opens Friday.
7.38am NATIONAL: While slavery is assumed to be an issue from a bygone era, an Andrew Forrest-founded foundation estimates 3000 people are enslaved through debt bondage or the like in Australia. Read more.
7.36am CELEB NEWS: Intimate details about Elvis Presley's obsession with wooing women and love of being loved have been revealed in a new book.
7.34am SPORT: Roger Federer's wife Mirka was believed to be at the centre of a heated post-match argument between the world No. 2 and his Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka in London on the weekend.
7.32am STRANGE BUT TRUE: A mother & daughter in Florida have had their babies on the same day. Read more.
7.30am Check out this great shot of Albion Park Rail youngster Emerson Garcia, who has scored a role in the professional production of Les Miserable.
7.28am LOCAL SPORT: Wollongong captain Oscar Forman is counting on history being in the Hawks' corner for this weekend's trip to north Queensland.
7.26am WORLD NEWS: French prosecutors said on Monday they were investigating two Frenchmen suspected of taking part in the beheading of Syrian prisoners shown in an Islamic State video. (SMH)
7.24am Myer's Christmas event is on today. Duck in there for a bargain.
7.22am CELEB NEWS: If you missed this one yesterday, Tim Campbell & Anthony Callea have married after seven years together. Awww.
7.20am Have you checked out our Year 12 formal gallery? Do it now.
7.18am NATIONAL: Nauruan locals have written a threatening letter to refugees and asylum seekers living on the island, warning them to stop taking their jobs, flirting with local women and telling them to get out of their country.
7.16am LOCAL NEWS: Super celebrity Kim Kardashian might have worked out in Sydney on Monday, but she also made the most of the glorious beaches on the NSW south coast. Part of Bristol Point, Jervis Bay, was closed as photographers snapped away.
7.14am An Australian submarine expert may have found a famous WW1 submarine lost at sea.
7.12am How good do these choc fudge tarts look? So. good.
7.10am STRANGE BUT TRUE: The Dutch airline KLM is offering visitors to Amsterdam the chance to spend the night on board a converted plane. The unique accommodation is being offered for just three nights on the website Airbnb. It sleeps four guests in two bedrooms.
7.08am Did you watch Four Corners last night? Really interesting episode on transgender children. Here's Isabelle's story.
7.06am NATIONAL: The public housing system has failed and many tenants should be fending for themselves, according to a NSW government blueprint that flags greater private involvement in the troubled sector.
7.04am CELEB NEWS: How beautiful does Jennifer Lawrence look in the new ads for Christian Dior? Gorgeous. You know I love J-Law, she can do no wrong.
7.02am LOCAL NEWS: A teenage ice addict who robbed two Warrawong businesses at knife point has been sentenced to 15 months’ jail.
*Reporter Bree Fuller has the story.
7am Had to share this with you - the chip on a stick. Nuff said.
6.58am Good morning! Welcome if you're just tuning in. We're in for a partly cloudy day with a top of 23 degrees. There is a medium chance of showers tonight. All good on the roads & rail.
6.56am If you missed this one yesterday, Pop singer Anastacia will be coming to Wollongong next year, performing at the WIN Entertainment Centre on May 1.
6.54am NATIONAL: Tony Abbott has managed to confuse Tasmania & China while talking about the free trade agreement. Nice one!
6.52am Former Big Brother star Ben Zabel suffered a drug overdose on Saturday night. He's now out of hospital recovering.
6.50am LOCAL SPORT: Just weeks after making his international debut, Woonona’s Flynn Ogilvie has earned selection in the Kookaburras Champions Trophy squad alongside fellow Illawarra talent Tristan White.
6.48am A little animal funny for your Tuesday morning. Enjoy.
6.46am WORLD NEWS: The wife of an Australian man murdered in Bali admitted to ordering his killing, but says she told his alleged assassins not to do it "sadistically". She sealed the deal by linking pinky fingers with one of the men still on the run. Read more.
6.44am MUSIC NEWS: One Direction have released their new album, Four. It gets a pretty good write-up in the SMH - check it out here.
6.42am The Kim Kardashian butt parodies are coming thick & fast - this one of Ursula from The Little Mermaid is my favourite so far.
6.40am Want to whip up some tasty pastries? Hehe. Try this recipe for empanadas - delicious.
6.38am LOCAL NEWS: Severely sleep deprived, paranoid and high on ice, Luke Krajnovic did not hesitate to stab a mate in the chest in a fit of rage.
*Reporter Bree Fuller has the story.
6.36am Symbio koala Joey James is turning one today! Happy birthday.
6.34am NATIONAL: The Abbott government has been left embarrassed on another climate front with key ally Canada indicating that it will support a United Nations climate fund to assist poor nations to cope with global warming.
6.32am Photos from Sunday's Camp Quality Convoy are still flooding in. Check out our collection of Facebook snaps.
6.30am CELEB GOSS ALERT: Solange Knowles, Beyonce's little sister, got married on Sunday in a white suit. And she looks amazing, as usual.
6.28am RADIO TALK: FM champions Matt Tilley and Jane Hall will host the breakfast slot on Kiis in Melbourne, the station that will replace Mix 101.1 in January. But it's left two formerly top-rating FM hosts out of job: Chrissie Swan, Hall's breakfast co-host on Mix 101.1, and Tim "Rosso" Ross, the network's Sydney and Melbourne drive host. Read more.
6.26am SYDNEY: Hundreds have farewelled Georgina Bartter, who died after taking a pill at a music festival, at a memorial service in North Sydney yesterday.
6.24am Thoroughly Modern Millie opens at the Arcadians this Friday night. Gran your tickets quick! Here's a little more about the show.
6.22am Have you seen the Breaking Bad parody of Frozen's Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Brilliant.
6.20am WORLD NEWS: The Church of England's governing body has rubber-stamped a historic measure allowing women to become bishops, paving the way for the first ordinations next year.
6.18am Arh technology, so handy - a new app has been created to show you what 200 calories looks like. And it ain't much. 1/2 a blueberry muffin v three whole lettuces. Here's some other examples.
6.16am LOCAL NEWS: Wollongong councillor Ann Martin has backflipped on a pledge not to challenge sitting MP Noreen Hay and will contest ALP preselection for the seat of Wollongong next month.
*Reporter Andrew Pearson has the story.
6.14am CELEB GOSS ALERT: Could Taylor Swift and One Direction's Harry Styles be back on again!? That's the rumour - he apparently sent her 1,989 roses to try and win her back. Cute.
6.12am MUSIC NEWS: Bob Geldof has released the new version of Do They Know It's Christmas to raise funds for Ebola research but Adele did not take part because she ignored his phone calls. Ouch.
6.10am TRAFFIC UPDATE - Mt Ousley: all northbound lanes are now open on Mount Ousley Rd after that accident. Delays are still being experienced.
6.08am CELEB NEWS: Angelina Jolie walked the red carpet in Sydney last night in a fitted lace dress for the world premiere of her film Unbroken.
6.06am And in national news, via the SMH:
*Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will invite Australia to play a key role in supplying India's immense appetite for energy as its economy rapidly develops, using a landmark speech to Parliament today to express support for coal and natural gas, but also renewable energy.
*The axe is coming to the national broadcaster, with the ABC breaking the details of its own looming amputations last night: $50 million a year in new cuts will mean the loss of up to 500 jobs by Christmas, the death of state-based current affairs, a tighter budget for Lateline and foreign news offices closed.
*Police are investigating whether a woman was killed with a gardening tool after an argument with her husband in the front yard of their western Sydney home.
6.04am Here's what's making news in your Mercury today:
*Wollongong City Council's vote has gone to the dogs, so to speak, with staff recommending man's best friend be allowed to keep frolicking unleashed on northern suburbs beaches. Read more.
*The University of Wollongong has revealed plans to expand north, creating dozens of extra car spaces and shifting its main campus boundaries closer to Mount Ousley. Read more.
*Illawarra-based evangelists have shattered the peace at a gay pride event in a small Victorian town after they arrived with bibles in hand and preached - fire-and-brimstone style - against homosexuality. Read more.
6.02am Let's kick things off with the latest weather & traffic.
WEATHER We're in for a partly cloudy day with a top of 23 degrees. There is a medium chance of showers tonight.
TRAFFIC There is a multiple vehicle accident on Mt Ousley, which has closed one northbound lane. Expect significant delays. Hope everyone is okay! Otherwise, all good on our roads.
TRAINS There is a good service on the South Coast line.
6am Morning! Hope you had a good Monday, nice weather! It's Tuesday, we're edging closer to the weekend. Stay with me this morning for all the latest news etc.